Reacting To World Events

By Kieran McLaughlin, Headmaster, Durham School

I’m writing this column in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Manchester and London. Appalling attacks such as these are frightening for us all and our sympathies go to all of those caught up in them. In addition, those events provide a challenge for teachers and parents in helping children cope with what can be unsettling experiences for them even if they are far away from the events.

Children react to world events in a huge variety of ways. Some are blissfully unaware of news events; their world is much more local and immediate, with friends and family vastly more real to them than distant figures or events on the television. Some children though, especially older or more mature ones, can surprise you with how much they do pick up from TV or the internet; even children of primary age can have a grasp of who political figures are, if not the subtleties of their political powers or beliefs.

The recent attacks therefore can produce anxiety or outright fear in youngsters and we as teachers and parents need to help them through that. This can be a challenge; children are amazingly perceptive to mood, and any anxiety or stress that we as adults feel can be transmitted unconsciously to our children. This can even be something as simple as our reactions when we are watching the news. As ever, the pernicious effect of social media can make this more difficult for us. Children can often run into reports of terrorism or, worse, hysterical reactions to world events in the most unlikely of places, and this can serve to stoke their fears more. Our job as parents is to keep a watchful eye on what children are doing and, as with many other aspects of internet use, making sure that avoid any inappropriate material.

The best way I believe to help youngsters, and I’m talking really about those below the teenage years, is to be as honest and as matter of fact as you can. Ask them about what they have understood of the attack and how they feel about it. Once you can understand their fears, it becomes more straightforward to deal with them. Shocking and disturbing though these events are, they are still mercifully rare – not something children find easy to understand. It is also important to emphasise how many people there are to help in that situation, and the excellent work that the emergency services did in recent events is something that we need to make sure our children realise. Ultimately, what they are looking for is reassurance and our presence, calmness and general sense of “adulthood” is invaluable in assuaging their fears.

With older children, the challenges can be different. Events such as these produce strong reactions in us all, and teenagers who are coming to terms with the world’s problems can find them hard to deal with. Anger, disbelief and horror are all natural emotions to feel when we learn of such atrocities and we as parents need to help our children talk through the feelings they may have. Once again, social media can be a breeding ground for hatred and intolerance, and it is a responsibility that falls on us to guide our pupils through this minefield. Radicalisation – of opinions if not to terrorism – is a real threat for our children and we need to guard against it.

Ultimately the message to our children is the same as the message for us all; we need to demonstrate to an even greater extent the traits the terrorist would wish to destroy: respect, tolerance and unity in standing up for our values.